Once upon a time, there was a little boy, with no name, no color and no place to live. They say he lived in the sunflowers as there was his favorite place, but the thing is that he couldn't, actually see them, he was blind. The only color he had on him, was the black of his beautiful curly hair. Fed up of not being able to see the beauty around him, the little boy went to the wisest man in his village, he was known as “THE EBONY GUARDIAN”, he lived in a small, humble house just out of the beautiful sunflowers field, he was known to be the darkest man of his village and therefore, the wisest. As in the whole village, black was considered a sign of nobility and wisdom. “Master”, said the little boy, in sign of respect. “May I ask you something?” “sure, go ahead little boy!” said the man, looking at him. “do you know who I am, or where I come from or why I have no color at all?! I wish I could have a color just for me” said the boy looking sad and frustrated at the master. “I don't know what color you are or what is your name or where your place on the Earth is, but I can show you a place in this word where all the colors live together in the light that you can see and in the dark that hides everything”. saying that the master led the boy to the most beautiful place he'd ever seen, full of butterflies and flowers. The boy looked at the master curious and said: well, these are all the colors the world can be? Where's mine then? What color should I be? Do they speak any language that I could learn or am I a stranger even here? Whispered the boy so disappointed. “shhh! Whispered the master smiling at the boy, “watch”, added him pointing at the sky. The boy couldn't see anything so far. “White as the light before to show up its shades, black as the night where all the colors rest, until a new day comes and the rainbow lives again”. As soon as the master pronounced those words a wonderful rainbow stood up in the sky, with incredible, brilliant colors. Those colored lights hit the boy who had finally found what color he wanted to be, not just one but all the colors of the light, all the magic of a rainbow. “what's your color then?” asked the master “All the colors of the light!” exclaimed happily the boy. “And what's your name?” “Rainbow!” “And, finally: where do you come from?” “I come from the light that spreads in the world all the wonderful colors of the rainbow! The boy eventually, had found his colors, a name and his place, he always kept on the top of his head the black where the colors were hidden. And while the world goes on, fighting to decide who sparkles more than everyone, somewhere in a nowhere there always will be a rainbow to show the light with its colors and a dark, quite night to let them rest until tomorrow.

It seems that 2020 didn't start so bad for my novella Look for Me Under the Rainbow because it was nominated for TopShelf Book Awards 2020! I was lucky that someone from either agencies, publicists, publishers, TopShelf scouts, or Insider members has recognized my book for that special honor. Thank you, whoever you are! And thank you, TopShelf Magazine, for picking my book from the crowd and giving it this opportunity. I will know if I am one of the TopShelf Book Award finalists by the end of September 2020, and the winners will be announced in the Holiday Edition of TopShelf Magazine in December 2020. BJ Source: https://www.bernardjan.com/post/topshelf-book-awards-nominee

For the last time in 2019 my eBook Look for Me Under the Rainbow is at a 67% discount price! Sunday, December 15, 2019, 8:00 AM PST through Sunday, December 22, 2019, 12:00 AM PST If you still don't know what to give as a gift to your beloved ones, this could be a nice opportunity and addition to their library. Make the best use of my Kindle promo week and get the story of a harp seal Danny at a favorable price! Thank you for spreading the word and telling others about it. Even more, thank you for leaving an honest review on Amazon and Goodreads. Don't forget: my other book A World Without Color is at a permanent price of $0.99! “A book filled with heart and love for all living things, I found the book touching and inspirational! The author's sincere character is embedded into each & every word! I highly recommend this book and give it five stars!”—S. Richard, author of Man at 50: A Journey of Crisis, Revelation and Survival! An excerpt from Look for Me Under the Rainbow: One day everything changed. Danny got a brother. Overwhelmed with joy, he completely forgot about the fear he felt when his mother left him alone a little longer than usual. He had begun to think something happened to her. Like maybe the sea current dragged her to the open sea where a killer whale swallowed her up . . . or a shark tore her apart . . . or she got caught in the ice . . . or she met a man. . . . But when he saw her coming with a tiny pup in tow, just opening its eyes, his fears and foreboding dispelled. Danny received Jon with such sincere affection and love, his mother almost burst into tears from happiness and pride. Jon's mother died in labor leaving him alone. And he barely survived. Even Danny's father, in their vicinity at that moment, was slightly bemused by this extraordinary show of affection. But as soon as Danny—feeling his gaze—turned to look at him, his father averted his eyes and disappeared behind a huge chunk of ice. Now she had not one, but two pups to worry about. Danny refused to be weaned and now Jon suckled as if he had not tasted food in his entire life. Still, Danny's mother knew she did the right thing. Her malcontent and mischievous little pup Danny whom she could not let out of sight even for a second, now changed beyond recognition. Not only did he stop pestering her with his interminable questions, he almost stopped his excursions to the sea. His attention focused on Jon, he treated his adopted brother with warmth and kindness. She thought that was amazing. If she weren't a mother who loved Danny more than anything in the world, she might have thought his love for Jon stronger than her own. But that was impossible. She loved Danny as much as it was possible to love anybody. BJ Source: https://bit.ly/2ElM0v2

Dearest Winter, Howdy Winter boy! How farest thou? (Isn't that a swell Shakespearian greeting!) I hope you are in the best of your health and joyous 😊 I write today, Winter boy, to tell you that I fathom not how the pages of Rainbow Valley dawn upon me a joyful sorrow. But trust me, Winter boy, Rainbow Valley is the best novel on childhood that I've ever read. The Blythes made me blithe and the Merediths made me merry. Though the dear children of Anne have always cast a magical spell on me, in the pages of Rainbow Valley my heart went out to the Meredith children, Winter boy. The Meredith children lost their mother at Una's birth. And Mr John Meredith, their father was an absent-minded preacher. He was a remarkable preacher that the Glen had had in decades, but his children were so poorly cared for. Not that he didn't care, indeed he cared and loved them much, but as I mentioned earlier, he was very absent-minded to the present world, and most often lost himself to the pages of theological books. But despite their deepest depths, they belonged to the race that knew Joseph and was soon acquainted with the Blythes as dear chums. Now, Winter boy, you might wonder what moved my heart to each of these children. Well, that's what's coming for you in my further narration. These children were young and wild and free. Faith would ride pigs, Jerry would attend the Methodist prayer meeting when he was a Presbyterian, Carl would put an eel in old Mrs Carr's buggy, and Una, the timid one was wont to dreadful thoughts on stepmothers. But you know what, Winter dear, I found their naughtiness cute. It reminded me of when we were small children. I'll now narrate an episode for you. The Meredith girls were oblivious to the gossips around their shabby manse in the Glen until Mary Vance brought them the news. So, Faith and Una decided to clean their manse. And clean they did. But, Winter boy, these poor kids got messed up with the days, that instead of cleaning on Monday, as they'd thought, they cleaned on Sunday. This arose a sensation in the Glen church and brought a bad name to their father. Faith was ambitious to clear her father's disrepute. She decided that she would clear it the forthcoming Sunday when her father was away to a nearby town to deliver the sermon. That Sunday held strange awe for Faith. When Dr Cooper had concluded the sermon and the organist had brought forth the music of the anthem for the collection, Faith got up from her pew and went to the pulpit platform. Instead of speaking bravely as she had rehearsed, her throat went dry. It was Bertie Drew who saved the situation. Sitting in the front pew, he made a scorning face at Faith, whence her bravado returned mightily. She promptly made a dreadful face back at him and clearing her throat began thus: "I want to explain something. People are saying that Una and I stayed home last Sunday and cleaned house instead of going to Sunday School. Well, we did–but we didn't mean to. We got mixed up in the days of the week. It was all Elder Baxter's fault because he went and changed the prayer-meeting to Wednesday night and then we thought Thursday was Friday and so on till we thought Saturday was Sunday. Carl was laid up sick and so was Aunt Martha, so they couldn't put us right. We went to Sunday School in all that rain on Saturday and nobody came. And then we thought we'd clean house on Monday and stop old cats from talking about how dirty the manse was and we did. So, it isn't right for any of you to blame my father for this, because he was away and didn't know, and anyhow we thought it was Monday. He's just the best father that ever lived in the world and we love him with all our hearts." This was what she quoted, Winter dear. And I love Faith and her siblings ardently for their cute naughtiness. But you know what, these young children had to follow when Walter's old Piper played his music. Now I'll quote something that Jem said: “Oh, I wish we had the old days back again, I'd love to be a soldier–a great, triumphant general. I'd give everything to see a big battle.” Winter boy, I'm now strangely emotional. For Jem and the other boys were to be soldiers and were to see a greater battle than had ever been fought in the world. These lads who were to fight and perhaps fall on the fields were still roguish schoolboys with a fair life in prospect before them and these girls whose hearts were to be wrung were yet fair little maidens a-star with hopes and dreams. I now have no words to write further, Winter dear. For I'm unable to put a name to the weird feeling in my heart. Love you much. Write to me soon. I'm waiting eagerly. Take good care of your health. I'll make you a raspberry cake and a cream bun when you arrive this weekend. And, there's another charming thing about the Rainbow Valley, the children who remained alive, grew up to marry their childhood sweethearts, just like us ❤ With a kiss of love and a red rose, Your beloved.